Type of Intervention: Advisory
Sectors Involved: Health, Local Government
Intervention Categories: International travel measures; Education and awareness
Level of Jurisdiction: National
Lead People/Agency: Ministry of Health, Minister for Health
Overview: The Ministry of Health issued updates with regard to pandemic developments. The Ministry of Health is working in collaboration with the WHO, West African Health Organisation, US Centres for Disease Control and other development partners to review strategies day by day. As a result, mass evacuation of Ghanaians from overseas jurisdictions has not been recommended yet.
Emergency preparedness and disease surveillance measures have been heightened domestically in response to the crisis, including screening at points of entry into the country. Samples from 15 suspected cases were sent to the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research and were found to be negative.
Communications with authorities and embassies overseas indicate that not a single Ghanaian in China or elsewhere on the globe has been affected.
Full details here: https://ghanahealthservice.org/covid19/downloads/covid_19_press_release_12_Feb.pdf
Type of Justification: Advice of INTERNAL government advisory committee or group, Perception of an increased threat, Advice of EXTERNAL expert advisor or advisory committee, Scientific Evidence (e.g. academic paper, report)
Source of Evidence or Justification: National – government, National – government, World Health Organisation, International – government, International – other
Evidence/Justification: Public health strategies are being discussed and reviewed in collaboration with the World Health Organisation, West African Health Organisation, US Centres for Disease Control and other development partners. The decision to not go ahead with mass evacuations of citizens from overseas was based on recommendations from the West African Health Organisation.
Testing of suspected cases is being undertaken by the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, a semi-autonomous medical research institute based at the University of Ghana.